Anti-abortion leaders across the United States were delighted a year ago when Donald Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to appear in person during their special annual event, the March for Life, which is held every January.
The state of mind is now more sober – a mixture of disappointment over Trump’s defeat and hope that his legacy of judicial appointments will lead to future court victories that limit abortion rights.
Organizers of March for Life in Washington, scheduled for next Friday, have asked their distant supporters to stay home due to political tensions in the city and the coronavirus pandemic. Rather, they plan to streamline the activities of a few invited attendees, in stark contrast to the tens of thousands of people who usually attend.
Meanwhile, Trump, whose government has taken numerous steps to restrict access to abortions, is being replaced by Joe Biden, a strong supporter of abortion rights, as president. Biden’s fellow Democrats now control both chambers of Congress, thanks to victories in two Senate by-elections in Georgia where anti-abortion groups are campaigning hard for the losing Republican candidates.
On Friday, the 48th anniversary of the ruling of the Supreme Court in Roe v.Wade, which establishes a nationwide right to abortion, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said they want to enshrine the right in federal law to do so. to protect against court challenges.
“For the past four years, reproductive health, including the right to choose, has been ruthlessly and excessively attacked.” their statement said. “We are very committed to making sure everyone has access to care – including reproductive health care.”
March for Life president Jeanne Mancini said she and her allies were concerned that the Biden government would pursue “radical extremism against abortion”. At the same time, anti-abortion activists are being threatened by Trump’s appointment of numerous federal judges – including three Supreme Court justices – who are seen as open to the revocation or weakening of Roe v. Wade.
In Republican-led states, numerous tough anti-abortion bills have been passed in recent years, and more appear this year from GOP lawmakers eager to see if any of these measures can reach the Supreme Court as a challenge to Roe v. Wade. .
“I’m very optimistic.” said Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee. “We will see many new bills … and we will see judges open to them.”
In Arkansas, a new bill will criminalize abortions, in addition to saving a pregnant woman’s life. The measure states: ‘It is time for the U.S. Supreme Court to rectify and rectify the serious injustice and crime against humanity caused by its rulings in Roe v. Wade is continued ‘and other matters.
The Texas legislature will also consider several far-reaching abortion bans. In Montana, anti-abortion bills are expected to continue now that Republican Greg Gianforte has replaced Democrat Steve Bullock as governor. Bullock supported abortion rights for eight years in office.
Lawmakers in South Carolina are considering a bill that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, usually about six weeks after conception. Similar bills have been passed in several other states, but courts have blocked their implementation.
Elizabeth Nash, who follows the state issues for the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights, says anti-abortion legislation can be given the highest priority, even in countries where lawmakers face multiple crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and serious budget problems .
Referring to abortion lawmakers, Nash said: “They view the Supreme Court as in their corner, and it is their job to continue to enforce restrictions and bans.”
Among abortion rights activists, there is relief and optimism as Biden’s government takes power, Biden is expected to issue executive orders soon that will reverse the anti-abortion actions Trump is taking.
One such order would repeal the so-called ‘global gag rule’ that bans the use of U.S. foreign aid for abortion-related services. Another order would repeal what abortion rights advocates call the ‘domestic gag rule’, preventing the title X Funds for Family Planning from going to health care providers who perform abortions or referrals for them. The ban prompted Planned Parenthood, the leading abortion provider in the US, to like the program rather than comply with it.
Proponents of abortion rights also hope that Congress, under Democratic rule, repeals the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding for abortions, unless a woman’s life is in danger or in cases of rape or incest.
Biden, a longtime proponent of the amendment, turned himself in in 2019 and now prefers to repeal it. But the prospects for repeal are uncertain, as Democrats will need a number of Republican votes in the Senate to overcome a potential filibuster.
However, Democrats’ narrow majority in the Senate is expected to be sufficient to confirm Biden’s appointment of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra – a strong advocate of abortion rights – as head of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Large anti-abortion groups have invested large sums of money and mobilized hundreds of volunteers to support the lost GOP Senate candidates in Georgia, hoping to retain Republican control so that Becerra can be rejected.
Becerra and Biden are Roman Catholics, and the support of the new government for abortion rights poses a dilemma for the American Conference of Catholic Bishops. The president, Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, congratulated Biden on his inauguration on Wednesday, but warned that his policies on abortion and contraception promote moral evils and threaten human life and dignity.
Alexis McGill Johnson, the president of Planned Parenthood, said the concerns that plagued her throughout 2020 made way for joy with the Democrats’ Senate victories in Georgia.
“I could actually inhale hope and possibility,” she said. “But we recognize the fact that the struggle continues – the courts and many of our state legislators are going to be very difficult for us.”
Although there is not yet enough data to show whether abortions increased or decreased during the pandemic, there is evidence that more women induced their own abortions using abortion pills that they could buy or receive by mail from a foreign source. . It is becoming increasingly easier for women to circumvent U.S. law, which requires the pill to be dispensed by a health care professional.
Abigail Aiken, a professor of public affairs at the University of Texas, said the online provider of abortion pills Aid Access received a surge of requests early in the pandemic, with some states citing the outbreak as a reason for abortion access at clinics.
Requests nearly doubled in Texas, which had the most stringent pandemic-related restrictions on clinics, said Aiken, whose research was published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Elisa Wells, co-director of another online organization called Plan C, estimates that tens of thousands of American women now seek abortion pills each year for self-administered abortions – based on the number of clicks on Plan C’s website offering overseas pharmacies that to send the pills.